The key to getting past opiate addiction is to create a new life for yourself.  This sounds like a big deal because it is.  Creating a new life is no easy task and it takes a lot of hard work.  Most people are not exactly up to the task of doing so and therefore they end up relapsing.

To get started on this journey you obviously have to stop using opiates.  After that you have to take massive action every single day.  Only a sustained and focused effort will produce the kind of long term results that most people are planning on achieving.  If you want to stay clean and be happy and live a life of freedom then you are going to have to do some footwork.  That means taking massive action.

Recovery is a long journey and a long process.  In the first few months after getting clean, your recovery efforts should be very focused.  Your main goal is to not use drugs or alcohol each and every day and of course you are also setting out on a path of personal and spiritual growth.  Some people might follow a 12 step program to meet these aims and others will go another route or follow other programs.  It does not really matter which path you choose to take as long as you dedicate your life to that path.  In other words you have to put in a maximum effort and it really does not matter much what path you are following.

Take any program based on abstinence and then throw in equal parts personal growth and spiritual growth and you have a winning formula.  I know of people who are working a recovery that simply focuses on one or the other: some choose personal growth and others are using exclusively spiritual growth.  Now here is the real kicker that most people do not ever realize: they are the same thing.

Our definition of “spiritual” has become tainted over the years based on our own perceptions of what the word really means.  Whatever definition of “spiritual” you hold in your mind, the real truth is probably much broader than that.  Most forms of opiate addiction treatment will take a spiritual and a holistic approach to wellness for the addict who is trying to get well.

If you can open up to this idea and start seeking holistic growth in all areas of your life, then you can find a “spiritual” experience in just about anything.  For example, playing with your grandchildren or engaging in vigorous exercise can become a “spiritual” experience when you are dealing with these things through the lens of having an awakening.

It is obviously about more than just not using drugs.  We have to change everything in order to recover.  And it starts within…..